EDMONTON - Before it ended up in Fred Stamps hands, the ball looked like it was headed straight for the ‘L’ column.

Trailing by three points in the last two minutes, the Edmonton Eskimos slotback was the recipient of a 51-yard gift from the football gods after a third-and-10 pass bounced off of Winnipeg Blue Bombers defensive half Demond Washington’s outstretched arms.

While it continued the drive for the game-tying field goal before Edmonton won 35-27 in overtime, that pass wasn’t originally intended to be the biggest gain of the game, by any means.

“I saw Adarius (Bowman) and Fred kind of stacked over top of each other,” said quarterback Mike Reilly, whose first instinct was to try and run for the first down. “But there were guys that were closing in, so I just tried to buy as much time as I could going to my left.